hurricane sandy. romney will be in avon lake, ohio. that is it for "washington journal." we will see you tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> the federal government is closed today as hurricane sandy is making landfall along the east coast. most of the schools in the washington area are closed. numerous commercial flights grounded. the d.c. and new york city metro services have stopped

altogether. the new york stock exchange and the nasdaq have halted all possiblyday and possib tomorrow. many of the campaign events that we are planning to cover today have been cancelled due to the storm. president obama is cutting back on his campaign appearances today. he was to appear with bill clinton in florida this morning. instead he will be in washington monitoring the storm from the white house. mitt romney is in the midwest today with stops in three battleground states, starting with an event in ohio. then he's headed to dive and por -- davenport, iowa, and then wisconsin. we will have live coverage of governor romney in ohio, set to start at 11:50 eastern. we are scheduled to have live coverage of a rally for the president in youngstown, ohio. he was supposed to appear with bill clinton.

instead vice-president joe biden will take its place. live coverage of that event at 3:30 eastern this afternoon on c-span. [video clip] >> if you consider that a while ago no one would ever agree to carry around a tracking device. but now we all carry around cell phone scott. -- phones. and no one would let people read their e-mail, but now all of our e-mail is stored on a server at google, gmail. we are putting our information out as a society. >> we're looking into cybersecurity and cyber warfare, the pentagon had declared cyberspace the environment of people and machines and the networks as a new domain of war and yet we realized that maybe 1 in one dows and people really understood what cyberspace was

and the degree and depth of the vulnerabilities. so what we are trying to do it in the zero days a series is take pieces of it and explain the fundamentals and a platonic idea is everybody from my mom and dad to congress and people around the country can understand, and so maybe start the process of coming up with ways to defend cyberspace better. >> cyberspace vulnerabilities, tonight at 8:00 eastern on the communicators, on c-span2. >> we have a pretty simple proposition. you can either increase the kind of approach that congresswoman wilson has embraced. she signed a pledge to support the cut, cap, and balance program. that is a tea party approach to balancing the budget. it has no new revenues, even for the wealthiest americans. it is so draconian that it would require deep cuts in social security and medicare over time. or we can embrace a balanced

approach. that's what i support. i think we can go back to the kind of tax rates we had under the clinton administration when the upper income earners were doing well and the entire economy was growing. we will have to make some tough choices. a balanced approach is the only approach i believe will get us there. >> your rebuttal? >> it is amazing to me that you can stand here, having voted for a trillion dollar deficits for the last four years, the largest, fastest debt increase in american history, can say that we have to control spending. you have done nothing to control spending over the last four years. with respect to cut, cap, and balance, it's amazing to me that the idea of cutting wasteful spending, capping the ability of congress to spend money we don't have, and balancing the budget is extreme. i think it would force congress to set priorities and stopped funding in things like solyndra and prioritize things like

social security, medicare, and education. that's why i support a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. >> the race to succeed the retiring new mexico senator is just one of the key house, senate, and governor's races you can follow on c-span, c-span radio, and at c-span.org. >> more campaign 2012 coverage next, to milwaukee, wisconsin. where friday the former governor tommy thompson faced off against u.s. congresswoman tammy baldwin, in their third and final debate for the senate seat left open by retiring senator herb kohl. it is a tossup. last about an hour. it's courtesy of wisn tv in milwaukee. >> hello, everyone. welcome to our conversation with the candidates. we are joined by tammy baldwin and tommy thompson. thanks to both of you for

participating. >> my daughter. >> i worked as a journalist and served as a fellow in law and public policy here at the university. the rules for tonight's discussion are simple. we have asked candidates to join us for conversation about the role of government in our lives and the direction of our country. we have asked them to answer a question as directly and concisely as possible. we have asked them to stay on point. the candidates may talk to one another, but i will be managing the time we spend on a particular topic and we will have the freedom to move the conversation along. each candidate will have an opposing statement along with 90 seconds. there are no opening statements. we flipped a coin to see who got the first question. if we begin tonight with congresswoman tammy baldwin. good to have you. >> thank you. >> it's about your portrayal in the campaign. you have been portrayed in this campaign as an extreme liberal.

that's what we see in the advertising and people have been bombarded by the apsa in the race. the national journal, a respected publication, said that you have either one of the most or the most liberal voting records in the house. the late george mcgovern said he was a proud liberal. why are you not willing to embrace that? >> we have a tradition i ism.onsin of progressiveis sometimes the words liberal and conservative have lost all their meeting at the national and state level. when i say i'm a proud progressive, a republican of his party because he felt that the powerful special interests of those days had too much control in washington and madison and he wanted the people to have a voice. i feel we are very much in that same place now. if i feel my opponent represents

a lot of those powerful interests who have legions of lobbyists in washington and that the people of wisconsin need a voice once again. it seemse who say like tammy baldwin is tracking towards the center, wonder what happens if she gets to washington? what do you say to them? but i want to be a voice for the hard-working middle class people in this state, to help rebuild our economy. i am not going to go there to be a voice for wall street or the big insurance companies or the big pharmaceutical companies or the tea party, for that matter. i believe that we need a fair set of rules of the road. i feel like our tax system is rigged by those with power and lobbyists. i feel like plans for the future of medicare are dangerous, if we hand them over to the private health insurance companies. i think that what you will see,

as i hoped to become the next u.s. senator from wisconsin, is somebody who is fighting for fairness and the voice of hardworking wisconsin families to be heard. >> the same sort of question, you have been defined in this race as someone who is simply stopped being one of us here that you are no longer one of us, that you sold out to a special corporate influences. my question is this, a lot of the criticism is focused on what you done since leaving government. any regrets or second thoughts about jobs you have held, clients you ever presented, that sort of thing? >> no. let me respond. nobody else is saying that except my opponent. she has spent millions of dollars tearing me down, because she has no record to run on. she has been in congress 14 years. all the things she talks about are things she could have done. it she would have done

something. she did nothing. she passed three bills. to the matter, i was governor of the state and worked with democrats and republicans and independents, cut taxes 91 times, past welfare reform, passed school choice, past and charter schools, passed badger care, past senior care, all programs for low-income, the middle income, and everybody in the state of wisconsin. 90% of the people in the state know me as tommy. i don't know of another democrat or republican in america that can run statewide and just use his first name. that is a complete misnomer. the thing is i'm still fighting for wisconsin and all will. .> let me jump in people say you've changed politically. they will say you have been asked to define yourself this year and use of a couple times you are a moderate conservative. but at the party meeting in june

use said i.m. way over on the right and to tell you the truth i'm not going to compromise. how do people read that? >> i don't know where you picked that up. i've always been a moderate conservative. i am a conservative. but i always have been able to work with democrats, republicans, and independents. tell me one other person that has a record like me that if unable to pass 91 tax cuts with democrats in control both houses? that tells you how moderate i am, how bipartisan i am, and how i get things done. completely different than my opponent. >> let me jump into the issues. i want to spend some time on priorities. for both of you. let's talk about that as job one. should you be the next u.s. senator from the state of wisconsin, where his job want? >> it is a focus on jobs and the economy, no question about it. we have people who are working

hard, playing by the rules to, and try to get ahead, but they are just getting by. we have a lot more work to do in this area. the work i have done already has helped focus a lot on growing our manufacturing base, bringing back jobs that have been off shore, making sure there's a level playing field, and training in china. part of doing that also means addressing the perverse tax incentives in our tax code that benefit companies that are offshore. there's a lot more to mind jobs agenda, but i want to display a contrast, because tommy thompson consulted with a company that teaches business is how to outsource jobs. he supports additional tax cuts that would benefit even further people who profit by outsourcing u.s. jobs. beyond that, the jobs agenda also involves making sure that we protect some very essential

investments. i'm not talking about more spending. i'm talking about re- prioritizing what spending we have. that's education, and innovation in research, and infrastructure. i think those are the key ingredients that not only help us build in the short term and address those families struggling to get by, helps them get ahead once again, and also helps us in a longer-term. >> let me have your response to that question, governor. what is job one for you? >> first, job one is to balance the budget. we are going for a fiscal crisis if we don't address it. we will be in the fiscal abyss. a child tonight born here in milwaukee is. $51,000 in is our whole budget is absolutely heading toward some kind of fiscal abyss unless we do something. the congress has not passed a budget in three and a half

years. when i was governor, i passed a budget every year, balanced it. at the same time i was governor, we created 742,000 jobs. 88,000 was from manufacturing. what the congresswoman has said about me with advisers, that's a figment of her imagination. i created jobs in wisconsin as its president and chairman. we created several hundred jobs in wisconsin since i left the government. the truth of the matter is trustee a developed the budget and then get the economy moving. there are 23 million individuals unemployed or underemployed. when i was governor, i will show them how to create jobs, opportunity, cut taxes, make things happen, build this state. that's what i'm known for and what i will do as senator. >> let's get into this more. we will get to the deficit and debt issued in a couple minutes. pittman example in terms of

jobs, what you would see yourself sponsoring immediately that you think improve the economic fortunes of the people of wisconsin? >> the keystone pipeline. 20,000 the spur. a company in brown's bill would have a contract. -- in brownsville. safeway has a contract to build a staging for that pipeline, $250 million a year, which would create lots of jobs. start drilling in anbar. it is a small area where they want to drill. let's start using our natural energy to press natural gas. be able to convert our semis and buses to compressed national gas instead of sending a thousands of dollars over to the opec countries and saudi arabia, who really does not like us. i want to build wisconsin in

america. >> give us an example of legislation you could work on immediately that would put life into the people of wisconsin in terms of jobs? >> i will try to build on the work i've already done by having passed bipartisan legislation for the paper industry, where china is subsidizing its paper industry to the tune of billions of dollars, create an unlevel playing field at. have seenu.s. -- we u.s. jobs and the paper industry go overseas. we need to do the same thing in all parts. because the and level playing field is costing. wisconsin costing i would push buy america policies, in particular in homeland defense and national security. we are paying u.s. tax dollars and they ought to pay u.s. jobs. often they're not using u.s.

employees for these things. i went on a made in wisconsin poor in the earlier part of my campaign and visited a shoe company that providing combat boots to our soldiers, but often those jobs are going overseas. that's irresponsible. tommy thompson was talking out drilling in alaska to create jobs here in wisconsin. that's ridiculous. unfortunately, if he had a broader energy policy that did not just focus on fossil fuels, which is a key piece of it, but also focus on inefficiency and renewable, that would create good paying wisconsin jobs. that's what i've been promoting in the energy sector. you want a chance to respond briefly? >> she has been opposed to the drilling in alaska's. she has been opposed to the keystone pipeline. >> that's not true. >> that means thousands of jobs

in wisconsin. he's talking about alternative energy, which 77 percent of the critical for alternative energy right now. like solyndra, which is another one the democrats feel good about giving money to. let's also talk about the paper industry. let me finish. when she had a chance, when the paper industry went to a congresswoman baldwin and said would you vote to have epa back off, because if you don't, we are going to lose 7500 jobs in wisconsin in the paper industry, congresswoman baldwin said no, i'm going to vote for epa. the paper industry is probably going to lose 7500 jobs because of that vote. >> a chance to respond. >> the statements he has made repeatedly about the keystone pipeline, my concern is that we have that at company follow the rules. there's a procedure. what they have done is try to

write their own set of rules. bribing well-paid lobbyists. what happens when you bypass the rules, let's talk to people in wisconsin and washington county and adams county, oklahoma have pipelines that come through their counties that have burst, spilling 50,000 barrels of oil . into oil. that is what happens when you bypass the rules. we don't let these large powerful interests write their own rules. what he is -- his lobbying firm in washington, it represented these folks. that's why his energy policy is all fossil fuel, all big oil, for that reason. so we have to have a diversified portfolio moving. fort >> 20 seconds. greg she is opposed to the keystone pipeline. safeway would have many

jobs in wisconsin. she voted for epa against a paper company of wisconsin. i find that really hard to believe, that any congressperson from wisconsin would do that. >> with move to a different topic. let's keep the focus on this one question. we're in the heart of milwaukee and there are people 1 mile away struggling. and there are people on farms throughout the state in rural areas struggling, have not had a job in a long time. what the proper role of government in terms of trying to deal with this problem of? of? or is it not really government's role? history ofok at the this community. it used to be a big industrial manufacturing center of the state. we have seen so many of the company's clothes or overseas. so that's partly why a big

focus on making things again in america and making things again in wisconsin is key and what i would champion. we also have a skills gap. we have heard this from countless folks, a former ceo from this area has offered recommendations. a lot of the technical colleges across the state are working hard with business. to address business we provide some support to help students a for technical college as well as subsidizing technical colleges. that's a government role that's very appropriate. so we need to have the right policies that allow these good paying jobs to come back. that's a very proper role of government. but let me have your response. what do we do? >> when i came in, the same problem. kimberly-clark was leaving the

state and college kids. cannot find kids i went out and recruited people. i cut taxes 91 times. we built four-lane highway, east and west and north and south so companies with big a to get their products to market. we created an opportunity for manufacturing, 88,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector. we had unemployment below 2% in milwaukee. we had jobs so many that people were saying to me, slowdown, we don't have enough people to take the jobs. that's the kind of economy i built in the state of wisconsin. at the kind of economy, the kind of innovations when i was governor, the same kind of innovations i can take to washington. we're going to use our vocational training. i spent a lot of money on vocational training and are as governor, because i wanted individuals to be book-to-bill things. i want welders, i want somebody that's a carpenter, to be able

to have that opportunity. s why i put so much money and emphasis on the trades, vocational schools, and i was governor, able to give them the education. finally, about mining. we have an opportunity to help a huge amount of jobs. in milwaukee, sending the equipment up to northern wisconsin for mining and people in the legislature were not able to do it, mostly democrats. republicans were ready to do it. create jobs the republican way. >> the subject you raised earlier, the nation's deficit. i want to talk about debt and the vista clifiscal cliff. we are used to trillion dollar deficit. we have a national debt of $16 trillion. and we could have the end of some tax and sharp spending cuts going into effect at the end of the year. what do we do about it? there's been more and more talk lately about could the two party

strike a grand bargain? this grand bargain that about is something you might see with the simpson-bowles commission where a policy and says we're going to have $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax revenue increases, we are going to cut tax rates and eliminating popular deductions, cut entitlements. it could knock $4 trillion of the nation's debt. is that something you could support? >> a lot simpson-bowles on the table, but i also want my own plans on the table. i want to label to put in the same thing i did when i was governor, a proposal that said every state agency had to take a 5% reduction and be able to have an opportunity to redesign their departments. i would do the same thing with the federal government. i want to require the federal government to come in a 5% below what they had before. i wished i would have had the power to able to redesign

programs. nothing ever gets eliminated in the federal prepare the worst you can get is one% increase in federal program or maybe 2% or 3%. e-tickets secretary to power to reduce their budget -- if you give secretaries the power to reduce their budgets. i would also require a resolution that says if you don't pass the budget more than four months after the first of january, you don't get paid. let's force congress to redo their jobs. -- to really do their jobs. >> would you support something like what the simpson-bowles commission recommended? i found a point of agreement. i also agree congress should not get paid if they don't pass a budget. you heard me say that. >> she supports tommy thompson's policies. >> i actually mentioned it

earlier than you at the first of it. so listen carefully. >> that the first-time i've heard it. >> in any event, i cannot accept the product of the simpson- bowles commission. although i have to say that i think the process is worthy of solving the vexing problems in the future. but on the substance, at too much needed it asks too much of middle-class and veterans and did not ask the very wealthy to do their fair share. i believe that as we tackle the budget, as we tackle the deficit, that we have to have that balance. it could not -- the difference between terry thompson and myself on this issue could not be more clear. he starts with supporting the ryan plan, which has massive new

tax cuts for the very wealthy, $260,000 for the average millionaire like tommy. and it pays for it with an increase in middle income taxes. beyond that, what concerns me the most, we spoke earlier when you asked him about compromise, the pledged to a washington d.c. lobbyist by the name of or for norquist that basically, it's that he will never asked about the to do more. that is wrong. in order for us to all have a fair shot, we all have to do our fair share. we need balance as we confront this very real and serious problem. >> i will let you respond to, but let me follow up. is there really enough money there to make a dent in the nation's debt by raising taxes

on the wealthy? you can make an argument that it's a fairness issue. some people believe that. but is there enough? we're not going to fund course again > do we really need to get where we need to get if we don't touch entitlements? >> let's talk about that. if we let the bush tax cuts on the top 2% expire, that will amount to $849 billion. the better part of $1 trillion. i don't think -- i think it's important that you raised some of the issues about unfunded wars and unfunded tax cuts, because each of us has a record of either supported or upholding policies that got us into this mess in the first place. tommy love to talk about his time as governor during the clinton boom years, but he served in the bush and administration and left

wisconsin in 2001 to become a cabinet secretary. he supported bush posted policies to have two unfunded tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, roughly $1 trillioni each1 supported, as did the, the war in afghanistan, but i opposed the war in iraq. want our children and grandchildren to pay for it. on his watch they created the most fiscally irresponsible policy in this country since the 1960's. so we have reflective records. almost $5 trillion in debt got us into this mess. we went from surplus to a deficit in 2001. >> how? would you like to >> she has misstated just about everything.

first, the debt has gone up from $6 trillion to $16 trillion when she has been in office. patton dollar trillion increased. -- that is a $10 trillion increase. i never put in a tax bill to give anybody a tax break of anything right now. my tax bill that i put out is basically if you want all the itemized deductions and exemptions, fine. if you want a flat tax without a skimming or scanning the system, you can do it in the halftime between the green bay packers and the chicago bears. you go in and put down the gross revenue, but your tax in promise ended in, and still have enough time to go to the refrigerator and get a beer and come back and watched the second half. so you have that opportunity. the third thing, she forgets i was running the department of help. i was not in the department of revenue. i was not in passing tax things.

she was in the government. she has a tremendous idea that all these happened without hurting in congress. she thinks i was in congress. i'm sorry to tell her, but i was a secretary, of health and human services. i was not proclaiming war or passing legislation for taxes, yet she wanted to tax the rich more. fine, she should introduce the legislation. she's been there 14 years and is never introduced a proposal. she has been talking about this wonderful buffett rule. the buffett rule would cost america 750,000 jobs, about the same number of jobs i have created when i was governor. it would run the federal government for about 11 hours. but severe portrait of. >> i want to ask you each a very brief question after your response to this. >> the buffett rule is about fairness. we have people who make over $1 million a year who pay at lower

tax rates. take mitt romney for example. they pay at lower tax rates than hardworking wisconsin families. nurses, construction workers. that's fundamentally unfair. why is this the case? because there are these loopholes that folks that are very powerful, will have their legion of lobbyists, get written into the tax code. it is unfair. es can behink the tax done during the green bay packers game, if i have that right. [laughter] >> i am more optimistic than you are. and this, butt to i am listing to each of you and i hear you say you don't want to raise taxes as part of some

deal,? is that, >> i don't want to raise taxes. i said i don't want to raise taxes. i want to cut the programs by 5% across-the-board. i want to give the secretary is the power to reorganize and eliminate programs. if we get a grand deal so that we can absolutely do it, i think simpson-bowles has to be on the table, i want my plan on the table, and i want to sit down on a bipartisan basis. you have to have some compromise for either political party. i'm going to washington to solve the problems, not to delay them. i want to fix the problems, fix america, so my children and grandchildren can inherit a country that is stronger and freer than. if we don't than. >> are you saying the same thing richard trumka has said, but he does not what the grand bargain stuff, because he does not want to entitlements touched? >> the first thing i would do

with medicare is get rid of tommy thompson's steve harvey with the drug companies that made it illegal for medicare to bargain with the big pharmaceutical companies for better prices for our senior citizens. that would save us $156 billion. the va bargains with the drug companies and gets discounts of 40% to 58% lower than our senior citizens get. so that the will of the meetings i would do. >> you would not favor aid and means testing? >> i regard medicare as a promise. what i was raised by my grandparents. paid in throughout their working life. we have to strengthen and extend the sovereignty. i would note that tommy thompson supports a program to replace

traditional medicare with a voucher. some people would have a piece of paper. if it doesn't keep up with cost, tough luck, it's out of your own pocket, shifting costs to seniors, as was a sweetheart deal with the drug companies. >> let me set the record straight. the sweetheart deal she's talking about is a democratic proposal that was introduced in the 1999? and you know who voted for 1999 congresswoman baldwin voted for that. you voted for that we are dealing you have been blaming me for. i was still governor and she's blaming me. that was in 1999 and came up in 2000 on a vote of the house of representatives. congresswoman baldwin voted for it with all the democrats. the sweetheart deal was really a democratic proposal that she

voted for. second, in regard to medicare, i believe if we don't do anything, and that's always been the mantra of my opponent, don't do anything and medicare is a point to be ok. medicare is going to go bankrupt in the year 2024. i don't want medicare to go bankrupt. i want to fix medicare. but i want to make sure seniors in america and wisconsin are protected. only those that are going to be under the age of 50 by the year 2000 will have a choice, not a voucher like she says, i have never supported a voucher. what i support is a program that if you are 50 and under and they will make a choice to go with medicare or go with the federal help employees benefit, which congresswoman baldwin and all the people in congress and the president gets. that's a much better approach. it's good if not better than medicare. all seniors would be taken care

of. all these young people would have something to protect them when they get to that age. >> the note of the plan but you just proposed, would save more money than what we are doing? >> it was introduced by a couple u.s. centers and they said it would save medicare. i would like to see it. at least it's a plan. paul ryan has a plan. tommy thompson has a plan. we have been waiting for months and years for barack obama to get a plan and tammy baldwin. all they can say is we don't have a plan, we're just going to stand by and and lead to rome burned and see medicare collapse. that's not a smart plan. >> first of all, we do know something about his grand plan on medicare. that is that health costs in the federal employee health benefits program are increasing at a rate of 40% faster than traditional

medicare. so that gives you a sense, it's not a full score from cbo, is something we do know from the track record. this does not save us money. it would shift a huge burden to seniors. second, this idea that he never supported the voucher program, he ran ads in his primary say i will be the 51st vote to pass the paul ryan budget, which contains this plant. -- plan. last summer at the republican state convention he stood on the stage and talk about his support for. -- his support for that plan. third, what have i done, i worked hard on the the affordable care act, which has a significant section on medicare. in that we extended the solvency of medicare by 10 years. this is not the end of our work,

but it is a very strong beginning. i was very involved in that. , thompson ran medicare from. -- from 2001 through 2005, and the program was nine years closer into bankruptcy under his watch. they said it would be insolvent in 2029. 20 left four years later, 2020. so that his record on this. when is he gone to take responsibility for what's in the medicare part d program? he said he was the cheerleader, the champion of this company said i had nothing to do with it, somebody else put that in there. he had every possibility of setting that's not going to be in there and he did not do it. >> let me have you respond. >> i am somewhat perplexed by

what she is saying. the truth is i and the architect of part d. i just want people to understand part d is the first major improvement -- i came to washington in 2001 -- first major improvement to medicare since 1965. you know something, 90% of the seniors like it. 85 percent of the seniors say it saves them money. under the score of cbo, it has saved the federal government $435 billion. you tell me any other program in washington that 90% of the people like it, and that saves the federal government money? that's what part d is. all the seniors, when you are going to purchase your drugs, just remember i did set up the program so they could purchase drugs. and you're congresswoman tammy baldwin voted against it. she talks about medicare, she

did work on the affordable care act. they took $716 billion out of medicare to fund obamacare. does anyone think taking $716 billion out of medicare to put it to help fund obamacare is good for medicare? athink it's absolutely travesty. >> briefly. >> aarp has said that simply is not true, this allegation about the $716 billion. there were -- and this happened in part under thompson's watched -- there were excessive overpayments to the private insurance companies that were managing part of medicare and we ended those. so the other savings came from negotiations with providers who

, in anticipation of the affordable care act and having far more patience, said this is something we agree to. no guaranteed benefit was altered in any way. in fact, there were two major improvements for all medicare beneficiaries. preventive care and shrinking of the donut hole, and the solvency was increased by nearly a decade. >> let me have you need to address a question about the affordable care act. you want to repeal obamacare. but governor, you will need a lot of things to do that. you will need mitt romney white house and the majority of the senate, you will need 60 votes in the senate to get past the filibuster? >> first, you don't need 60 votes. the supreme court said it was a tax and its budgetary item. we will deal with it. but a the affordable care act. there are 20 taxes in it.

all your health insurance proposals are born to have a tax on them, coming up. most of that is on the middle class. all those making under $200,000, 87%, $80 billion tax will be placed upon you. you will have a tax on the transfer of your house under obamacare. you will also have taxes against small business. there are so many small businesses that will strap people being covered by health insurance, because they cannot afford it. that's a travesty. that's what obamacare is all about. 15-member board appointed by the president of united states that can determine what kind of benefits you are going to have. this is part of obamacare. you think anybody out there in america once an unelected 15- member board appointed by the president to able to determine your doctor, hospital, what type of treatment you will have? that's why obamacare has retained it. i've got a whole plan on how to

change it. there's one thing tammy baldwin and i do agree on, because i started it when i was secretary and its cronus and prevention. 93% of the people in america =--- 93% of the cost of health care is due to help people after they get sick and the rest is to keep you well in the first place. we should put most of the money instead into wellness and prevention and we will start making our health care system more accessible and accountable. >> first, the question is you say now you want to make sure it works as well as possible. you were asked yesterday about your years of support for single payer and you said that is kind of irrelevant to the discussion. is it irrelevant to voters who want to know what you? passionately believe? >> we had a passionate debate

that resulted in passing america's new health care law. the last thing americans want or need is to have the u.s. senate and the president rip it up and start all over again with a big new debate. what we now need to do is work across the party i'll and make this work. i have listened to tommy thompson talked repeatedly about what he would do if he got his way. 80% of what he says is already in the bill. i would advise him to read the bill. let's talk about some of the things people now have and what they will have. i was proud to sponsored the amendment in committee that allows him people to stay on their parents' health insurance until they are 26. i traveled to campuses across the state on the campaign trail and said raise your hand if you have coverage through your parents. 2/3 of hands usually pop up.

think about the worries parents have had over the years if you have a child with pre-existing health condition. insurance companies can no longer turn them away. they have to offer them affordable coverage for their children. i think about the past, when people would regularly bankrupt because of an injury or illness. we have put an end caps on insurance coverage. when it's fully implemented, which is what we must now do, really everyone in america will have high quality affordable health care and small businesses will get the help they need to be able to do what they want to do for their workers. this idea that we would rip it up and start all over again is really ridiculous and irresponsible. >> may respond? >> keep it brief because i want to cover more topics tonight. apart and want to rip

then it out. i have a whole plan. i have 10 items that we connect the health care system affordable and accessible. some of them you would support. the truth is obamacare was not trying to have any kind of input whatsoever from doctors or republicans. they drove it through. they passed obamacare on december 24, 2009, only the second time that the united states when it was ever in session has made a deal to give obamacare a lot of money or senator ben nelson and nebraska so they would never have to pay anything more. cut a deal for democrat mary lander of louisiana. cut a deal with bill nelson. they never had a public hearing. they forced it through with just democratic support. that's why it is so screwed up. we have to fix it. if we can do it on a bipartisan basis. the only way you'll have a

health care system that really works in america is to do it on a bipartisan basis. who better than me to table to help get that done. >> i want to talk about 9/11 for a moment. it's been a focal point of your campaign for the last week or so. governor thompson, you raised this issue with an ad where you were critical of a vote that she took in 2006 on the anniversary of 9/11. essentially, they criticize her for not showing support for the victims and families and first responders and 9/11. you have any regrets about running backs athat ad? >> i was sitting in my office as secretary of health on 9/11 and i saw those two planes flying to the twin towers. i got a call from governor george pataki and from mayor rudy guiliani is saying, tommy, we need help right now.

i was the only cabinet secretary that was able to get an airplane in the air and we sent 50 tons of medical supplies up to the city of new york by 5:00 in the afternoon. the next morning i had 200,000 gloves, to hundred thousand masks. following morning i was in the city of new york, the first cabinet secretary there come before the president. i met with the governor, i met with the chief of police, the fire department, i walked down west broadway with 6 million firemen. we had to wear a mask because the debris in the air was so thick that you cannot see. i went to the hospital and went around and talk to doctors and administrators and held the people that were injured, later died. they wanted some particular products and some doctors which i sent up there. then i went to the morgue and saw individuals out there. they needed help. i commissioned some people from my department to come up there.

then i asked the department of defense to set up a hospital ship comfort and sent hundreds of people and canines and morticians and all these people to help them. i held those individuals, i saw them. i was the person in charge and i was very upset. everybody else in the state of wisconsin, all the other congressional delegations voted for that and congresswoman baldwin did not. that bothered me. five years after that, i was there and held those people and saw them. still to this day of talks me. >> a chance to explain your votes, congresswoman? >> i am outraged that tommy thompson would question my patriotism. he has personally profited from 9/11. politicalrying to profit from 9/11. honorvoted nine times to the victims and first responder

is a 9/11. i voted three times to allow the congressional gold medal for those families. i voted and worked very hard to pass a 9/11 health care bill. i voted to hunt down osama bin laden and the perpetrators of 9/11. words are very important. and i believe you should never politicize 9/11. when a resolution on the eve of a hotly contested election sought to politicize the resolution that we annually pass, i voted no. but i want to say words are important, as our deeds. you follow words with deeds. that's where our work on first responder help comes in and brother could not be a sharper contrast between my record of honoring and helping those first responder sand tommy thompson's. i worked to pass the 9/11 health

bill. i worked with first responders who had flocked to the scene from across the country, would certainly from around new york. they had been advised by their own governments that the toxic air was safe to breathe. sometimes weeks and months and years later they developed a rare blood cancers and blood cancers and respiratory illnesses. they came to atomic thompson and his department. three years after 9/11, gao came out with a report that said 412th out of 10,000 federal workers had been tested and screened, but they said it was bogus. the o department decided it would u -- they would contract out these health services. who got $11 million contract? tommy thompson. i spoke with responders like

judi ann johnston said they had to fight for their benefits from tommy thompson's company. that's not how we should treat our first responders. i am outraged that tommy thompson would question my patriotism. >> why did you vote for the resolution -- i mean against the resolution? >> because it politicized 9/11. i feel that does a dishonor to the victims. because it used a solemn occasion of honoring the 9/11 victims to promote the george w. bush political agenda. it offended many of the survivors and first responders. i felt i needed to stand up. >> i never questioned her patriotism. i question your judgment. only 22 people voted against it. every person from wisconsin voted for it, including nancy

pelosi. everyone voted for it except 22 people. it bothered me because i was there helping out. if you talk to george pataki and mayor rudy guiliani, they say i was a force of nature because i was up there so often helping people get things. congress did not give the appropriations, but it was not because we did not try. the federal government -- she did not appropriate the money. congress did not appropriate the money. and why they did not get the treatment. bus bay put a restriction in asked who could get it. if we could have given more money out to more people, we would have. not only did she voted against this, she voted against the a ahmadinejad. all except three individuals condemned him. tammy baldwin voted against the

sanctions. i don't question their patriotism,. i question,. these things that make america less safe. >> the discussion about iran, i will have you explain your vote on the sanction and why you took $60,000 from a group that is opposed to sanctions, which he tried to raise in the last debate. i will have your response to what he just said. >> first, it is unacceptable for iran to become capable of producing a nuclear weapon. it is a threat to the u.s., to the region, and a strong existential threat to our strong ally, israel. support the president's all options on the table approach and have voted early in my congressional career as well as recently to support sanctions.

and now that the president has finally gotten the world community to join us, they are crippling. but when we were acting unilaterally, in the last administration with very little international support, there were less meaningful. even during the presidential debates, i heard mitt romney twice talk about the green revolution, about what more we could have done to support an iranian civilian uprising against their regime. sending our young men and women into harm's way is on the table and we could not have facilitated the idea of revolution from within, i think we missed an opportunity. so, quickly, on the council, it's a 50-year-old nuclear nonproliferation organization. i support nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

and it is a group that says you don't go in a war first. the last thing i want to say on this topic, is at the last debate the, thompson said -- i confronted him on the fact that he held investments in businesses that do business with iran. he said that night that he did not know about it and blamed his stockbroker and that there were two. in fact, there were 7 and there were all in his financial disclosures. he should not be lecturing me when he's profiting from his investments in companies that were doing business in uranium mining and helping iran build its nuclear facilities. >> i'm running short on time. >> i question their judgment. she voted for ahmadinejad. he came out and said a holocaust did not exist. he said we're going to have a

nuclear bomb to destroy israel. congress put in a commendation resolution to condemn him. everybody voted except for three individuals. she voted against all the sanctions up until this year when she decided to run. then she decided this year she was going to run, so she was going to vote for it. in regards to my investments, she's got the same investments. its intervention fund for the university of wisconsin, for the state of wisconsin, and for the federal government. >> we will have to halt this part of the conversation because we have gone along. it can be a minute of closing statements and i hope you can will deal with one minute. it's time for closing statements. it has been determined by a coin toss. congresswoman baldwin, we begin with you. >> thank you. i appreciate the fact that everyone is here, that is sponsored this debate and that

thomas thompson agreed to it. the fact is that one of us is going to be your next united states senator. and voters have a clear choice in front of them. elections sometimes boiled down to the real question of whose side are you on? whose side am i on and whose side is tommy thompson on. on issue after issue, is so clear. on jobs and the economy, i have been fighting for leveling the playing field and for the hard- working wisconsin families. tommy thompson and his lobbying firm has been supporting outsourcing and tax breaks for them. on deficit-reduction, i have been supporting a balanced approach that does not solely put the burden on the shoulders of middle-class families, seniors, and veterans. but he took a pledge to washington d.c. lobbyist named grover norquist, whthat allows him not to ever asked for a heavier burden on the very

wealthiest. you have a choice. if you want somebody fighting for you, hard-working middle- class families, then i ask for your vote on november 6. >> thank you. governor thompson? courts are want to thank the congresswoman and everybody here. i've been the governor of the state of wisconsin 14 years. i changed the direction of the states, cut taxes 91 times, on a bipartisan basis with democrats and republicans. i'm a reformer. i am a reformer. we have reformed the tax system and the education system. i will do the same thing in washington. during that time that congress will involve one has been there in washington, she has worked on three bills. i do not think that she should be promoted to the united states senate because you can name a post opposite after united states senator.

i love my grandchildren dearly. i want to be your senator because i'm afraid that we can no longer have a a country that is promised to be state -- better and safer. all we can do is promise that we have debt. we will have to pay those debts unless we start getting up and get that budget under control so that we do not have a fiscal crisis and a fiscal abyss. i ask for your vote because i can rebuild this country just like we did in wisconsin. let's do it together, ladies and gentlemen. we are wisconsin. we are all americans. >> gov. thompson, congresswoman bolon, thank you both very much. we will be discussing this race with john nichols and christian scheider. they probably have opposite views of what occurred here tonight. i am just guessing. you are free to go to the polls between now and november 6.

election day is the sixth. we encourage you all to get out and vote. thank you to the candidates for being here tonight, and to you for watching at home. i am mike gousha. have a wonderful evening. >> live pictures of the u.s. capitol well -- where hurricane sandy has shut down the federal government today. d.c. area schools are closed. commercial flights are grounded. most of the metropolitan east coast is shutdown because of the storm. early voting has also been canceled here as well as in maryland. president obama wants to make a campaign stop in orlando earlier today. the president's plane is back here in about half an hour or so. because of the storm, many of the campaign events were

planning to cover were canceled. it will be covering an event with mitt romney this morning in the midwest as he stops in three battleground states. he starts in avon lake, ohio. then he has to davenport, iowa, before he finishes with a rally in wisconsin. we will have live coverage of governor romney starting 1150 pietka -- 11:50 a.m. eastern. in youngstown, ohio, the president was supposed to appear with bill clinton, but instead, it will be vice president joe biden in his place. that starts at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon. c-span is asking middle and high school students to send a message to the president. they will answer the question what the most important issue the president should consider in 2013 has. they have a chance to win a grand prize of $20,000, with

$50,000 total. the deadline is january 18, 2013. find out more at studentcam.org. >> yesterday, former first lady laura bush traveled to michigan to rally for mitt romney in the state where he grew up the national poll average house president obama leading the state by four points after being up by 10 points earlier this month. this is about 35 minutes.

[applause] >> greetings everybody, how exciting is this? [applause] how great is it to be a michigan republican today?

[applause] we have some distinguished guests with us i'd like to recognize. lieutenant brian kelly. -- lt. gov. brian kelly. the next united states senator from michigan. pete hoekstra. our soon to be representative in the 11th congressional district, county commissioner laura cox and the mayor and sheriff. [applause] before i introduce our special guests the great friend of michigan former first lady laura bush was not only a strong -- laura bush, who is not only a strong advocate for women's health issues but she's

made a global awareness to the all the world women's health. she should be acknowledged for that. [applause] along with her very tender and soft voice for aids awareness on a global basis. she started in 2007 the laura bush institute for women's health. and with dignity on behalf of all of america was so supportive on that horrible day in september 2001. [applause] in a week, we in michigan are going to make history for america, aren't we? [applause] i was worried that you aren't

fired up. are you fired up? [applause] well, these debates summed it up pretty well, didn't it? and the verdict is in barack obama cannot defend his first term. and you saw those debates which we saw three different barack obamas, the sleepy, the snappy and obama. -- and the snarky barack obama. he can't change the record because the facts speak for themselves. he cut the deaf at this time and -- he cut the deficit and debt has ballooned. he said heed fix the economy and it remains broken. and he said heed address the energy crisis in america yet he wouldn't approve the keystone pipeline. that's why in michigan we know

what we need to do next tuesday. four years ago we trailed in michigan by 17%. 8 years ago by 5%. right now it's tied in michigan. [applause] real clear politics has the average of all polls at less than 4% which is within the margin of area. -- margin of error. which means all of the thousands of phone calls and door knocks all of you have made will make this a dead heat and put the victory in our court on election day. [applause] you know that one day on a -- you know, that in one day on a saturday 250,000 likely voters were contacted, more than any state in america right here in

michigan. [applause] so i say to you, do not rest, do not think for a moment we're ahead. we got to protect our country by putting mitt romney in the white house. [applause] we got to protect our country by making pete the next united states senator for michigan. we got to make sure that we keep our state house republican like john walsh in the white house. [applause] but most of all, our supreme court -- say it with me, we're sending them to the supreme court. .ahra, markman, o'brien

now when we elect mitt romney next president of the united states, we know we will have a better america. we know that we will have a better michigan. we know that our children and grandchildren will be in a place that we can all be proud of going forward and be safe and secure. so stand with me, stand with all the folks from wayne county. stand with all the folks from michigan and let's elect mitt romney the next president of the united states. [applause] thank you for being here. it's my honor to call upon romney to introduce our speaker. mcdaniel toake danie introduce our speaker. >> what do you think about the chairman? he has done such a great job

making michigan competitive in this race and because of him michigan is going to put us over the top and win the white house for mitt romney. thank you very much. [applause] i am so honored to be able to introduce former first lady laura bush. let me just say a couple of things which obviously we all know what a wonderful first lady she was. i look at her differently. i look at her as a mother. as a mother myself trying to raise wonderful children, i so admire what she did with her children and the wonderful young women they have turned out to be and what a wonderful example she is to mothers across the country. and also with women's health and literacy. these are things that have a far reaching impact on our nation. so i want to say a couple of things about this election. i know they have assaying in -- they have a saying in texas that says don't mess with texas right.

we know and i want to introduce mrs. bush to assaying we have here in -- to a hossein we have here in -- to a saying we have here in michigan which is don't mess with the mitt. this is mitt romney's home state. this is where he was born and raised. this is where he fell in love with his wife. this is where his parent are buried. this is the state that's going to put him into the white house. [applause] i'd like to introduce mrs. laura bush. thank you. [applause] >> thank you all very much. thank you all so much for coming out. i'm thrilled to have the chance

to see you all. george and i have many happy memories of campaigning in michigan. it's great to be in detroit today and be here with you all and to have the chance to thank each and every one of you for the work you're doing. you're doing a really terrific job. you may know you've made in the whole united states you've made the 6th largest number of phone calls which is terrific. so we are grateful to you all for that. i also want to recognize your lieutenant governor. maybe he's gone on to the next stop i guess. but he was very very important in his job on the foreign

relations committee, chairman of the house intelligence committee when george was president. youit's really important elect him to the senate. it would be great if michigan had him in the senate now. [applause] i also want to recognize the mayor, thank you so much mayor. and a very special thank you to bobby, your chairman he's terrific, he got to whole crowd fired up and that was great. i want to tell you that george sends you his very best. [applause] we're doing great back home in texas living what i call the after life in a state calls the -- in a state george calls the promise land. but we're doing very well. we're building the bush presidential center -- is this one working now?

i'll try this one. >> the bush residential center is almost complete. the archives will move the presidential papers in late this november next month and the grand opening is next april 25. so i hope you all will try to come to the grand opening or if you can't come to the opening come to texas next summer and visit the bush presidential library that's going to be open. the girls are doing great. they are happily married. jenna is working as a contributing correspondent for nbc today show. george says she's continuing the bush family tradition with warm relations with the media. [laughter]

our other daughter has founded a non-profit called global health corp. it's placing garage watts in the health field. she has 90 fellows in her group of fellows in newark boston and washington d.c. and five countries in africa. if you know any young people who are interested they can look on the web. at ghcporps.org. she's doing just great. they both are. and the bushes, president george h.w. bush and barbara are in houston. they spend the summer in main. president bush turned 88 last summer and they are doing great. [applause] when he turned 85 t milestone year of 85 he celebrated with

his traditional sky diving jump out of an airplane. it happens at the largest he jumped into is a church yard. my mother-in-law joked that was convenient. if anything went wrong we could wheel him straight on into the church. but he's doing very well. they're both doing really great and we treasure our time with them. general na is going every month to get video footage of her grandparents and telling stories and she wants to have that both for his library but also just for her and all of the family to have this footage of them because they're so terrific.

now let's g get to what we're really here for which is to thank you all very very much and to encourage you to keep working every single day, keep going door to door and making those phone calls and make sure all of those people you contacted turn out to vote on november 6. it's really really important that we have the ground game that wins which and i think you all have set it up so that's what we'll have in michigan and i want to thank you all for that very much. i've been with ann romney lately. we did a reception together in oklahoma city and she is so terrific. and i think everyone saw it at her convention speech which was great. and then i hosted a lunch i don't know for her and raised a lot of money from around the country because that is going into ads in ohio and a few other states where we need to stay on television until november 6. but one of the things that i

was struck by ann, one of the things she said in her convention which i think is so right is she said that americans are too smart to know that there aren't easy answers to the challenges we face. but we're not too dumb to know that there aren't better answers. [applause] and we do know that mitt romney and paul ryan have better answers. they will make sure we can face the challenges we have. the challenges to our real economy, the personal challenges that we all have across our country because of the downturn in our economy, and the challenges we face overseas. really, the way we want americans to be thought of. that is, strong, friends to our friends, and i think it is

really important that we have that kind of foreign policy. i know that mitt will have that. [applause] so, i just want to encourage you to keep going, keep working all the way through to november 6, drive yourself to the polls along with everybody on your block. [laughter] make sure they all get there. thank you very much. god bless you all. one last thing. -- cheer the tigers to a win tonight. [applause] we want a win. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

"washington journa[captions copl cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> in about 10 minutes will go live to avon lake ohio where we are expecting live remarks from presidential candidates mitt romney. he is holding a rally there. is the first of three stops for him today. that will be about 11:50 a.m. this morning. we are also expected to have a live coverage of pirelli for the president in youngstown, ohio. the president was supposed to -- live coverage of the president ial rally in youngstown, ohio. the president was supposed to be there, but will be replaced by vice president biden because of the hurricane. about an hour ago, air force one return to the washington area so the president could oversee the federer response to the storm. this afternoon, he is expected to make a statement.

that will happen at about 12:45 p.m. eastern. and again, a reminder that we will have a campaign stop with mitt romney in an ohio. that will happen at 11:50 p.m. -- 11:50 a.m. until then, your phone calls from this morning's "washington journal."

"sandy ipads to political turbulence" is the headline in the -- "sandy adds to political turbulence" is the headline this morning. is this changing your plans for early voting here -- and here is a "financial times" headline.

you can give us a call and talk to us about what you think the impact could be. here is a story from "usa today." let's hear from our first caller this morning. tom joins us on the democrat's line. good morning. >> i think there'll be a huge impact on the election, especially people lose the electricity. i remember the last storm they

had was a year ago. if they lose their electricity for a week to 12 -- a week to 10 days, the voting machines will not work. i think the brunt of the storm will hit a blue states, as they say. if the brunt of the storm were to hit a swing state, this would be really tough to watch. >> does it feel like there's a lot of attention focused on this? caller: the weather or the election? host: the weather. caller: we have been in the biggest drop that we've been for 30 years, and we would like to see some rain. host: looking at how things are

shaping up because of the change in strategy, here is one from the "new york times"

host: so, what do you think? campaigns are shifting their schedules and changing what they are doing. this is "the new york times." "a nightmare makes landfall." "the people running the campaign for president have more than enough fodder for nightmares. worse, come daybreak, their worst fears may come true."

host: joining us now is bob cain, energy editor at politico. he has been looking at the impact of the hurricane on campaign 2012. good morning. thank you for joining us. what are the implications looking like right now in terms of this campaign schedule? caller: they have not cancelled much in terms of appearances, especially in virginia, a crucial state where significant votes are expected. the president had been scheduled to go to ohio today with bill clinton. that has been cancelled. joe biden was supposed to be there, but is not going to be able to go to new hampshire

today. people are trying to move around their appearances, the president basically had a couple of appearances and is then coming back. the white house is basically monitoring conditions. host: we are talking about two different changes to the schedule. one is the practicality of not going to a certain swing state, but the other has to deal with how candidates are perceived. talk to us about that angle. host: mike holly had an -- my colleague, john allen, intelsat and -- andhad an interesting story today. no one wants to be seen as politicizing a storm, but on the other hand they have a job to do next week. no one has talked about suspending their campaign. after the john mccain

experience four years ago, no one would actually use that phrase. there are unpredictable ways in which this could affect people. no one wants to be seen as trying to take political of vantage of this. but the effect could include things like not being able to make appearances in swing states, early voting, or power outages lasted long enough, voting could be disrupted. the fact that nobody can really tell -- it will be difficult to get the message out. voters in crucial areas will not be paying attention to the federal election or campaign messages or the last-minute flurry of advertisements that everyone basically sits on cash for if they do not have power. both candidates are losing their opportunity to send their message to voters. there is the unknown impact on

the much discussed ground game that the obama campaign was relying on to get the voters out to the polls. you also argue that mitt romney is the one who has ground to make up in a crucial swing states, like ohio and virginia. it will make it difficult for him. right now it is hard to tell whose campaign is going to be most affected. host: early voting, are you looking at how the race to get those votes in the bank before election day rolls around might be impacted? caller: we are. most of the states do not have early voting. pennsylvania, for example, does not have early voting. virginia does not allow it unless you have a special exception that allows you to vote absentee before the election. ohio does have early voting, of

course. north carolina, which is an early casualty of hurricane sandy, has early voting. the question of just, basically, which ones are going to be affected most, it is hard to say. maryland suspended early voting today. and the other hand, that is a safely blue state, so that will probably not impact the outcome. host: jody rights in -- host: are the campaign's looking at what kind of impact of this could have in terms of big repercussions? we always hear about the october surprise. are they seeing this storm as that event now? caller: some people are seeing this as the october surprise and no one knew what that would be, perhaps. we were calling it the katrina factor the other day. the bush administration, they're not terribly effective response to hurricane katrina shadowed the rest of the bush

presidency. it certainly contributed to the democrats taking the congress in 2006. besides the huge humanitarian cost, which resulted, no president wants to be seen under responding to a storm. that, besides the fact that you want to safeguard the american public, would suggest there would be a big response from the obama administration. there is only so much to you in do. a storm like this in new york, that is something we have not seen for a long time. there is certainly the earth -- possibility for people to say, rightly or wrongly, that the federal government did not respond appropriately. i have not seen any signs that any major figure in the republican party is trying to do that. unlike when some people immediately decided that

hurricane irene would be the obama katrina. a couple people, including newt gingrich, suggested a quick response this time was at odds with the respond." pose -- at odds with the response posed to the staff in benghazi, libya. we will have to wait to see what the response is. host: final question for you -- how was this impacting the journalists that cover the campaign? caller: one thing that we are expecting an impact on, e-mail and electricity service in the washington, d.c. area. there are contingency plans for that kind of emergency. i am not the person in charge of that.

we're going to continue to do our coverage as long as it is safe to do sohost: bob, thank you so much for covering that force this -- before us morning. we would like to hear what you think the impact could be. bill writes in on twitter -- host: looking at some of the front pages of the newspapers as they cover the storm, this is from "the new york daily news." "shot, city braces for a monster." -- "shut, the city braces for a monster. of the store is looking at the potential impact of the storm. "destructive potential of the storm tops the scale." bill, florida, what do you think the impact could be on campaign 2012?

caller: being in florida, florida receives more hurricanes than the rest of the nation does. it does not seem to interrupt when it comes to voting times. host: you are not too worried about it? caller: i'm worried about any hurricane. host: 0, sure, but in terms of the political fallout, are you going to be handled -- watching the campaigns to see how they handle the crisis? caller: i have been watching the debates. i watched all of the debates on c-span so far. host: are you talking about the humorous dinner in new york? caller: that is right. host: thank you for your call.

maurice, independent caller. good morning. caller: i don't know which party is going to hurt more, or help for that matter canno. i think it is just going to and the race for president early, because i think something like this will overshadow everything. and i think you are really hot. host: let's go to mary in an twin falls, idaho. caller: i just wanted to make a comment on barack obama. the democrats created fannie mae, to help the poor people buy housing and when carter added freddie mac. the government had two ways to lend money to the port. and slick willie, or bill

clinton, and his friends and double down on low interest loans. and in 2006, the democrats took over the house. harry reid and barney frank barred two of the largest loans, and obama barriga the third and largest loan. it caused the banks to collapse. i do not understand why everybody blames bush for this mess, when in my eyes is the democrats, that caused it. >> you can see the rest of this in the c-span video library. you can -- we will leave is now to go live in ohio. this is the first of three stops for mitt romney today. ♪ [applause]

>> avon lake -- [cheers and applause] i would say avon lake is fired up today. [cheers] thank you all for being here. and i want to thank mary taylor. she is doing a great job as lieutenant governor, along with john kasich. but they cannot do it on their own. they have to have a partner in the oval office they can work with, and that is mitt romney. [cheers and applause]

folks, eight more days. [cheers] 3 days ago i was at the avon lake victory center with some of you that are here today. the place was packed. people were energized. do you know why? because they could see that help is on the way. mitt romney and paul ryan. [cheers and applause] , let me ask you today, are you going to do everything you can possibly do in the next eight days to ensure that we can bring back america's promise? are you going to do it? [cheers] put up your hand if you're going to put another sign for him, go door-to-door, commit and the next eight days. let me see your hands. [cheers] commit to i